Leseprobe

51 Davidowitz Fig. 3 Details of decorative coating remnants found on silver life-casts from the Diana Automaton Material investigations were carried out with a variety of microscopic and spectro- scopic techniques to help characterize the pigments and binders contained in the paints and varnishes. These included polarized light microscopy, ultraviolet light photography, x-ray fluorescence, x-ray diffraction, and gas chromatography mass spectrometry. Other avenues of material research were also explored, as the conductive nature of the silver substrate potentially allows for the implementation of electrochemical techniques rarely applied to the study of cultural heritage objects. A joint project was established between the University of Amsterdam, the Rijksmuseum, and Delft University of Technol- ogy. This focused on determining which electrochemical methods developed for industry are potentially able to help characterize historical coatings on silver, what type of data could be expected to be gained, and how these analyses could be optimized in the future, particularly with regard to degraded remnant coatings.